The Bloom of Guilt
by LavenderIceCream
Summary: (contains some spoilers?) Guilt. Self-hatred. Emotions run high, tensions run deep as Ladybug and Chat Noir discover who Hawk Moth is. Chat Noir loses almost everything and Ladybug her identity; was there a victor in this battle afterall? Examines emotional conflicts between friends, family, and of course, those in love. Rated for some violence and heavy topics. Dropped (sorry )
1. Chapter 1

"No, Chat Noir! What-!"

Clang. Metal met metal as the ring clattered on the floor. The magic drained from him, and Adrien fell to his knees.

The scarlet fingers froze at his shoulder.

"You… _You_?!" Adrien felt dizzy as a guttural roar meshed with a caught cry. But that was the least of his worries.

He stumbled forward as accusations blasted from all sides.

"Why- Adrien!"

"This… _This_ was all for _you_!"

"Why- what? How could you be?"

"How… betraying your father!"

"Your father is Hawk Moth!"

"All your fault-"

"All my fault-"

"Shouldn't-"

"Should've-"

"I'm sorry-"

"No forgive-"

"Stop… "

"STOP!"

" _Chat Noir_."

Adrien blinked. The usually slitted emerald eyes gazed at him with an indecipherable expression. "Plagg…"

Plagg flicked his tail silently. In his small paws was the scarred, bland ring.

Adrien gazed down at the shattered black mask of Hawk Moth and then slowly raised his eyes towards the man tied by the yo-yo. The strained veins popping as the mouth vomited slews of something vicious. The eyes that deep down, in the coldest pit of the abyss, held absolute nothingness. If nothingness was a state, then even that had been burned away to become more nothing than nothingness itself.

That was his father.

"I wanted to free you, I wanted to make you the child your mother would be proud of and _you_ , you did everything wrong! You were a mistake, I should've disowned you and adopted a more willing son because you are nothing but a _sham,_ you only look like that woman, you bastard!" Hawk Moth snarled. "I hope you realize that, and regret for the rest of your life for being born. Atone being alive!" Hawk Moth wrenched against the ropes, and Adrien flinched as something dark began staining from beneath them.

Plagg flicked his ears. The ring glinted dully.

"What will you do? Are you going back? Will you forgive?"

Adrien looked down, a blush crawling along his neck.

"Adrien, look at me." He looked up and met enormous, glowing green. _Green like an apple… that's what mother would compare it to_ , Afrien thought absently.

"What are you."

 _I… I…_

"Empty, that's what! That's what he is!" Hawk Moth spat. "My boy, I made him everything that he is! Without me, that thing would be nothing, _nothing_ , you hear? He has, is, and will always live under me and we'll be the guardians of _her_ memory! And when I die, he'll carry it on, and then after he's dead, we'll be together, all three of us, and it'll be perfect!" Hawk Moth jerked his head back and began choking a rankled laugh, convulsing his throat over and over like when a penguin regurgitates fish for its young.

"NO!" Ladybug shrieked, and she yanked the rope tighter. The laugh broke into wheezes. "No! He won't! Chat Noir, Adrien won't! He'll never die like that! He can't, he can't, he's… I won't let it happen!" Her voice cracked.

 _I…_

"I'll never let Chat Noir be alone! He's _mine_ , do you hear me? He. Is. _Mine!_ I'll never let you have him, you beast!"

"Ha… hahaha! As if! You know nothing-"

"I don't know anything! I know... nothing…" Ladybug stopped pulling, but held the rope taunt. Her hands quivered. "I don't know anything about Chat Noir. I don't know anything about Adrien. But…" She raised her eyes, and the breath was punched out of Adrien's chest. He had never seen her eyes so brilliantly, so royally blue, like the rims of the last summer twilight sky.

"But he is not nothing. He… Chat Noir, Adrien… He is my _everything_."

Adrien's eyes grew round, and the edges began to burn. His sight began to blur like a Saharan mirage, and all he was sure of, and he knew for the rest of his life he would be sure of, was the blue sky.

"No…" Hawk Moth gaped, searching for words but finding none.

Ladybug closed her eyes, took a shaky breath, and then slowly opened them once more. She took a step forward towards Hawk Moth and dropped on one knee. She let go of her yo-yo. "Nooroo," she whispered.

"No… No, no, nononono NO."

From somewhere. "Yes…!"

" _No!_ "

Black gasps of magic steamed from Hawk Moth, and a single, faint glow spiraled above the mist before fluttering within Ladybug's outstretched palm.

"Nooroo, Lady, at your service." The kwami sweetly smiled up, and Ladybug smiled back, albeit tiredly.

"Noo- Nooroo, you betray me too0!?"

Crawling from beneath the smog was Gabriel Agreste. The Gabriel Agreste. The man from every magazine that Marinette owned, the fashion god that all of Paris and perhaps the world bowed to.

The father of Adrien and… Chat Noir.

Ladybug stood. Her earrings flickered. _Please, just a bit longer… Please_. "Mr. Agreste. I will have…" Ladybug paused. She swallowed with difficulty before continuing. "have to formally take you to the police. Please oblige peacefully." She placed Nooroo on her shoulder before stretching out the same hand.

Gabriel screwed his eyes towards her, and Ladybug shivered at the malevolent look. She willed her hand to stop shaking and she willed herself no pity for either Gabriel and Adrien. Ladybug closed her eyes. _Duty and justice. Even if he hates me forever, even if I know that he has no other family. You have to Marinette, you have to…!_

"You forget how I control Nooroo."

Ladybug snapped her eyes open. An unpleasant premonition clenched in her gut. Gabriel had an equally unpleasant smile as he casually stood, brushed off his pants, and towered over her. Ladybug felt Nooroo tremble beside her ear.

Click. Gabriel hung open the brooch at his chest. Ladybug winces as the blood dripped over the photo of Adrien's mother.

"Nooroo, remember… You must come back." Gabriel gazed into the photo, and stroked the photo, further sullying it. "As _her_ previous kwami, you owe it to _her_ after you killed her, yes?"

 _What._

Ladybug's heart dropped.

"Oh, you don't know Ladybug?" Gabriel gave a bloodless smile as he turned towards her. "Do you know what happens when you're in that appearance Ladybug?"

 _No, I-I don't want to know_. Ladybug took a nervous step back.

"They become _immortal._ Time stops when you use Lucky Charm and when you transform yes? Same as that, in that outfit, you can never die. A sort of armor." Gabriel's smile widened and curled up to his cheeks. "Maybe it was a sort of thanks by the first kwamis. But you see Ladybug, sometimes it's not so great. To be immortal. And to be a superhero."

"You see, Adrien's mother? She tried to save some stupid people who were in a fire. No Akumas. No anything. But she was too late after trying to find a place to transform. She was too late and when she tried to save them, they were already this." Gabriel stuck his hand into the remaining black smoke, and let it drift away between his fingers.

"So she transformed back in the fire. And joined them."

Ladybug felt horror and nausea rise.

"So you see, Ladybug?" Gabriel continued, as though he had been talking about nothing out of the ordinary. "I'm simply trying to save everyone like this. If you just give up your powers along with Chat Noir and destroy the Miraculouses, then everyone can be happy. And you know what? I'll even give you both my blessing! Go, be together! I don't care anymore! As long as the true monsters are _gone_."

"What do you say, Ladybug? A good deal isn't it?"

"Um… I… um…" Her brain was short-circuiting. _Adrien. Immortal. Dead. Mother. Nooroo. Tikki. Blagg. Ladybug. Chat Noir. Marinette. Marinette and Adri-_

"We refuse!"

A lanky arm slung across her shoulders.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. "What do you want, Adrien?" he hissed. "Stop being a bother and go play with your little ring, kitty."

"Ohhh no, I can't do _that_. Leave my lady? Here, with a way too intense Batman cosplayer?" A finger was wagged. "Nope, even at Otakon that reeks of one word: Pedo."

"Chat… Chat Noir?" Ladybug stared up at the familiar mask. "O-or, I mean, uh, Adr-"

"Yes, M'Lady! Chat Noir, at your service!" he cut in. He turned towards her and grinned hesitantly. "If… if you'll still let me stay by your side."

Ladybug opened and closed her mouth. Chat Noir's eyes darkened and the grin became a bit sadder. Before she could do a thing, he leaned by her ear. "But that is fine as well," he murmured, and Ladybug felt a different sort of shiver quake up her spine.

"Anyway, stop confusing her ya old geezer!" Chat Noir straightened and gave his usual sneer. "As if you could ever take away her justice! She's greater than anything you could ever throw at her!"

"Try it!" Gabriel hissed, and he raised the photo. "Nooroo, transform me!"

"Ladybug, please save him! I have given you more time-" Nooroo urgently whispered before she was sucked away.

"Nooroo!" Ladybug cried, but it was too late.

Hawk Moth was back for the last time.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hawk Moth!" Chat Noir yelled as he leapt forward.

"Chat Noir! It will be a pleasure to finally end you!"

Chat Noir gritted his teeth and whipped out the silver rod. Metal clashed with metal as Hawk Moth met each blow with his stolid cane.

 _I should use Lucky-_ Suddenly Ladybug remembered Gabriel's words. She felt her hands still and the words freeze in her mouth. _Immortality…_

"Gack!" Chat Noir yelped as he skidded across the floor.

"Hmph, such a disappointment. In everything you do." Hawk Moth raised his cane above the ring.

Clang! The cane hit the floor as Ladybug ensnared Chat Noir's body and yanked it back.

Chat Noir winced as he landed beside her. He looked up at her, confusion glimmering in his viridescent eyes. "M… M'lady… I thought, I thought you didn't want me…"

"You idiot, I told you, you mean everything to me. Don't make me repeat embarrassing things like that." Ladybug huffed and looked away. She was never gladder for her red mask.

She felt sparkles practically emanating from beside her.

"Oh my god," she muttered, and at that moment, she knew that she was doing the right thing.

"Lucky Charm!"

The yo-yo spiraled up and Ladybug held out her hands. Plop. She stared down at the item. "Huh?"

"Laaadybug, it's time to end this for once and for all!" Hawk Moth called, sauntering towards them.

"M'lady, do what you must but hurry!"

"Wai-!"

But Chat Noir had already shot forward and harsh clanks arced the air once more.

 _Where, where is the brooch with the photo?!_ Ladybug tried to see between the whirring weapons. A sharp flash of metallic indigo caught her eye. _There..!_ The brooch flickered as it moved wildly between father and son, as though attempting to appease both.

Ladybug tightened her grip on the item. She snapped out her yo-yo and latched it to the opposite corner above. "Chat Noir, you have to be the one!"

"Wha-"

But she was already zipping in the air, one hand grasping the yo-yo and the other clicking the button.

Bwoomf! The black umbrella puffed open for only a second when Ladybug let go of the string, crashed into Hawk Moth, and clicked the umbrella shut on both herself and Hawk Moth. The brooch broke off from the shirt and clattered across the floor.

"The brooch!" both she and Hawk Moth cried. _I'm sorry, I'm sorry you have to do this Chat Noir, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…_

Crack! At that moment, Ladybug looked up and Hawk Moth was staring into her eyes. But at the same time he was elsewhere, or maybe nowhere. _Maybe nowhere… maybe that's where he wants to be,_ Ladybug thought, before she clicked the umbrella open once more and rolled out.

Without wasting another second, she snapped open her mirror and snatched the onyx Akuma. "I will set you free…" The mirror opened once more, and the pale butterfly fluttered free.

 _Bye-bye, petit papillon_...

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug threw the umbrella into the air, and rays of light pooled into the room, more brilliant than anytime she had ever seen it before.

The black garble washed away from Gabriel, and he slumped onto the floor. Nooroo zipped up and crashed into Ladybug. "Oh, lady, thank you so much! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for freeing him!" she sobbed.

"Shhh…" Ladybug gently stroked the kwami. Her earring flickered once more, and she stiffened. She carefully took Nooroo into her palms. "I'm sorry, I have to leave… But… " She suddenly felt a wave of dizziness hit her, and she crumpled to the ground.

"Lady…? Ladybug! _Ladybug!_ "

 _Someone's… saying my name…_

 _I wish someone would say "Marinette" like that._

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter!

Dan-sama: Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoy the story!


End file.
